Reader Jerry wants to warn you about his shocking problem with his Bose in-ear headphones. If he goes for a walk with them, they shock his inner ear. Ouch! Jerry wrote to Bose, telling them about his problem, and Bose wrote back, “Yeah? So?”. Apparently, occasional shocks to your inner ear aren’t a problem, or a design flaw, they’re a feature! See what Jerry has to say about this, inside.
Here’s something interesting for you guys.
You may have seen ads for Bose ear buds or “In Ear” phones or whatever they call them; the little buggers retail for a hefty $99 a pair.
Their main claim to fame is supposed to be great sound and superior comfort.
Unfortunately, Bose’s idea of comfort is, shall we say, a little undermined by the fact that their ear buds transmit static shocks to your inner ear!
That’s right. If you take these for a walk – something ear bud wearers might CONCEIVABLY do – you can discover this shocking design flaw for yourself.
I contacted Bose to find out wassup with dis, and here’s what they said:
We have received observations from a few customers that mild electrical shocks have been transmitted through their headsets. We have investigated these cases and found them to be related to environmental causes such as customers walking on carpeting, wearing clothing that discharges static electricity (wool, etc), or even using exercise equipment such as treadmills. Low humidity in the air can also make it more likely that you will receive shocks from objects such as doorknobs, clothing, other people, and electronic equipment. Static charges discharged through the headset will not cause any harm, and do not indicate an issue with the headset itself.
Well, excuse me, but I’ve never received static shocks from any other ear buds or headphones I’ve ever used, so I consider this an issue with Bose ear buds. And no, the shocks are NOT pleasant…
Check it out!
Jerry Danzig
NYC
Gee, Bose, it’s not fair to blame Jerry if your product shocks him if he tries to use it. And “pain” is considered “harm”, at least in most definitions. There’s not much point in returning the earbuds for repair or replacement if the problems inherent in the product. Since Jerry’s not cool with random electric shocks to his inner ear, (there’s just no pleasing some people,) he might want to use our delightful Consumerist techniques to convince someone with authority at Bose to let him return his product and get his money back. He was looking for superior sound quality, not involuntary electroshock therapy.
(photo:The Joy Of The Mundane)
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I’ve had shocks in my ears from hands-free headsets, iPod earbuds, regular headphones, my cell phone, a regular telephone, you name it. I figured most people experienced it at some point or another, magnets and electricity being entwined physical forces and all.
The Bose response didn’t seem snobby or inappropriate to me, merely informative, such as “this will not kill you” and “this is laws of physics in motion”. Their duty as the manufacturer is to confirm to you that you don’t have a faulty set of earbuds ; your duty as a customer is to tell them you want to return them regardless of a design flaw because it bothers you.
Get pissed off when they refuse, but don’t choose a nuclear option just because you never realized jamming tiny charged magnets into your ear could conceivably go wrong… you’re in more danger from the volume pumped straight into your eardrum than the equivalent of a spark-laden wet willy to your ear cartilage.
Bose customer service in general seems to be rather smug. When I called about a replacement for my out of warranty triport AEs, they offered $30 take it or leave it, despite the fact that it was caused by a design flaw. When I asked if there were any alternatives, he said I could toss my triports and buy a pair of “bad” sounding headphones for that $30. I’m sure I could find some $30 headphones that sound at least as good as those triports, TBH, they weren’t really that mind-blowing.
1) Stick wire leads into portable audio player, check.
2) Stick other end into ear canal, check.
3) Power up electrical device to induce current into the ear, check.
4) Expect nothing to ever go wrong with this situation… check???
Any engineer could tell you it’s a generic design flaw in all earbuds. Here’s the easy fix – wear shoes with rubber soles, stop humping the carpet, and get a haircut.
I walk with these all the time and have never had a problem. It sounds like a few of them may have a recurring flaw but nothing more.
The triport IEs and OEs both sound great to me as well. I agree that Bose can be overrated by general consumers and underrated by audiophiles, however, for my ears they provide high quality sound and I have not had any problems with either pair in any way.
Plus, since I am not able to wear normal “canal” earphones (E2C, etc.) without hurting my ears, these are perfect, because the Bose IE’s do not hurt because they sit inside the outer part of the ear and the tip part of it slightly goes into your ear.
Either way, I would not want to be shocked by them, and I have a feeling that it is a design flaw, not a “user error”, and Bose (i’ve seen GREAT customer service from them in the past) seems to be lacking lately in the service department.
I end up hitting submit before I am actually done. Wow I am way too wordy.
Just a finishing thought to the above.. it could very well be a general problem that certain people wearing certain clothing in certain climates, etc. experience, if this is the case and has been proven on a massive scale, then I don’t believe that Bose’s response was necessarily inaccurate.
I think this guy must be talking about his auditory canal — which I’m pretty sure is very different from his inner ear, which is all that weird shit behind the eardrum.
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same thing happened with the zune earbuds. i didnt believe the story at first and just brushed it off, but then i happened to me one day, and its definitely related to the manner in which you wear the earbuds and the environment you’re in. i was wearing a sweater with a metal zipper i think, and had one earbud hanging while the other was in my ear, and it kept popping and shocking me when it would bounce around while i was walking
I recommend Shure. The frequency response is really good and they are extremely affordable for what you get out of them. Otherwise, I’d go Sennheiser.
Bose basically makes piece of shit everything and is the hated bastard child of the audio industry. I majored in Acoustics and my professors were relentless in dismantling the Bose hype.
I’d actually like to take this time to mention that all in-ear headphones are capable of delivering shocks of static electricity to a person. I’ve had it happen to me on multiple occasions. It happens more in colder environments. Static builds up. It needs to be discharged somehow.
@Zyzzyva100: @arsbadmojo: When will the public come to its senses on the subject of Bose? I have talked loved ones out of ill-advised Bose purchases on many occasions.
Sennheiser is great, and you can’t go wrong with Grado (made in Brooklyn!).
@petrarch1608:
V-moda vibes! I love em’ since I’ve gone through about a dozen headsets in my lifetime and these are the best sounding so far (they don’t shock you either). They also come in some pretty colors, mine are red. bout 100 bucks, might be able to get em’ for less though.